


Through The Fire And Flames

by Estellaceon



Series: Httyd AU [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, But for now they're not rlly in here yet, F/F, They'll probably come back in later parts of the story, They’re gonna ride dragons, removed some tags bc I thought it was so background that it was barely noticeable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-04-21 21:31:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 15,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14293878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estellaceon/pseuds/Estellaceon
Summary: Ruby had lived on Patch her whole life. It was a pretty island. Nice beaches, big forest, sturdy little village. The only problem were the dragons. Yes, dragons.You see, every few days or so Patch got attacked by dragons. They burned houses and stole food. It was really annoying. Her father had been searching for the nest for years. This is the story of how he found it. Or, really, how it found her.Alternatively: Ruby is too nice for her own good, a saga.Httyd AU





	1. The one where Ruby slacks off in class

It was dark and the only sounds were those of the sea. Two girls were clinging to one another in fear. One was the chief’s daughter, the other was her best friend. They had been the only ones who had managed to escape the slaughter of their tribe. The chief had sent them away, smuggled on a merchant’s boat. The sea was all they’d heard for hours, neither daring to make a sound. Everything they knew would be gone by now. All they could do was hope for their own survival.

The sound of footsteps. Mumbled voices turning to hurried arguments. The footsteps came closer.

“You can’t go in there! That’s private property!” The door opens and light filters in, blinding the frightened girls, followed by an all too familiar voice.

“Well well, look what we have here,” The eyes of the ruthless viking stared straight into their eyes. “Now, which one of you is the one we’re looking for?”

* * *

Ruby was jolted out of her thoughts by an arm whacking her in the side.

“Pay attention! You are the future of Patch and I will not have this age old alliance fail because you won’t know how to run a village.” Weiss was right. She should be paying attention, but she could just not sleep that night. Her hand strayed to the buckle holding her cape together.

Weiss was the heiress of Atlas, one of Patch’s most important allies, and as such, she was someone Ruby had to get along with. She was someone Ruby wanted to get along with. She was so elegant, yet amazingly fierce. She was so clever and hardworking and she was just the picture-perfect chieftess in training. And she expected Ruby to be the same.

It wasn’t that Ruby wasn’t trying. She was, but she just couldn’t get her head to memorize all those tiny facts or focus on the lessons on trade routes when it was such a beautiful day and she wanted nothing more than to go play outside with the other kids. The only thing she was good at was fighting. She knew how to move her axe. She was fast and could fight. But she couldn’t show Weiss that side of her until dragon training classes. Luckily that was only two more days.

But for now she was stuck in class with an irate Weiss, learning about trade with Mistral.

* * *

As the night fell, the dragons attacked again and Ruby was of course stuck inside working the forge with her uncle. She loved being in that forge and she was good at it too, that wasn’t the problem, but her sister and the others got to go outside and put out fires and would actually get to see the dragons, while she was just repairing weapons inside. Even Jaune got to go outside and as funny as he was, he wasn’t exactly skilled at, well, anything that included moving. He was just too clumsy. But her father didn’t want her to go outside because she was ‘still too young’. That was such nonsense. Yang was on the fire brigade already when she was Ruby’s age.

“That’s the curse of being the youngest,” Yang always told her. And then she’d go running off smashing things with her mace. Ruby wanted to smash stuff too.

“Okay, It looks like this is a heavy one. I’m gonna go outside.” Her uncle grabbed his axe and pointed at her. “Stay. There. Inside.”

“You got it!” This was her chance. She waited until Qrow left the building and immediately went out the back door with one of her inventions. She happened to be good at those.

Ruby pulled the contraption all the way up the hill and locked it in place. It looked kind of like a big crossbow, but instead of shooting arrows, it would shoot bolas. It was designed in such a way to improve range, speed and accuracy. Now she just hoped it actually worked.

As her eyes were scanning the black night sky for anything to aim for, she muttered under her breath. “C’mon, c’mon! Give me something to shoot at. Anything!” Whoever was up there calling the shots in Valhalla today seemed to be in a good mood since Ruby actually noticed a black shape blocking out the stars of that night.

She traced it towards the ballista and fired. The recoil of her device sent the small girl flying backwards, but she knew she’d hit her target as she heard a screech.

It looked like it landed in the forest. Now all Ruby had to do was find it and kill it.

* * *

The next morning Ruby was walking in the forest with her trusty notepad, searching for a tied up dragon and hoping it hadn’t gotten away in the meantime. She had been back before her father and uncle so no one had noticed she’d been outside during the dragon raid, though Ruby was pretty sure her sister had some suspicions.

If everyone saw she’d killed a nightfury by herself, they would stop treating her like a child. Perhaps Weiss would finally see that she was not just messing around.

The longer she searched in the forest, the more locations she crossed out on her map. Slowly the sun was starting to go down and as it sunk on the horizon, so did her heart. Ruby was starting to doubt she’d ever find the dragon. Maybe it had gotten free. Maybe she’d miscalculated and it had landed in the sea instead of the forest. At least then it would be dead, but she’d never be able to find it to prove she had killed it.

However, all those thoughts came to a stop as she noticed an area of complete destruction in the forest. It looked like a giant plough had decimated the forest floor. Definitely the dragon. She followed the path of destruction and there it was. Bound in tight ropes. It wasn’t struggling. Maybe it was dead?

Ruby carefully walked up to the dragon, holding her axe out in front of her. It didn’t react. “I… killed it?”

She poked the dragon. “Yes! Yes! I killed a dragon! Oh, this is gonna change everything! People will finally stop treating me like a kid! And Weiss will see that I can do this!”

Just as Ruby finished talking, the dragon let out a long sigh, shifting as it did so. Ruby darted away and looked again at the dragon. It looked back at her with one large green eye. It looked kind of… scared?

She closed her eyes. “Okay, okay, you can do this, Ruby, just bring your axe down on its head. It’ll be over quick.”

Ruby lifted the axe over her head and risked a peek at the dragon. It looked away from her in resignation. The determination seemed to leave her body. She couldn’t kill it.

“I did this…” Ruby turned away from the dragon, but something stopped her. If she just left it here like this it would die anyway. She might as well have swing her axe at its head.

She ran back to the dragon and dropped to the ground, muttering as she started cutting the ropes.  
“Oooh, I must be the stupidest viking alive.”

As she got through the third it suddenly moved and pinned her under its claw. She looked back into its eyes, terrified of what was to come. It reared back its head, hissing and giving her a full view of its very very sharp teeth, and roared straight in her face.

Then it ran off and disappeared into the forest’s shadows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we get right into it. Ruby just let the dragon escape. The plot is gonna be a kind of mix between that of httyd and rwby. It will be part of a series. I have already written chapter 2 and 3, but I don’t really keep an uploadschedule so I like to be a bit ahead in my writing. Chapter 2 will be posted when I’m done with chapter 4.


	2. The one where Ruby is not sneaky

Ruby winced as the door creaked. Dad was going to be so pissed at her. It was way past her curfew and she couldn’t even use the night fury as an excuse because she had freed it. She still couldn’t believe it, but she just couldn’t kill it. All that fight training for nothing. Well, at least she’d be of use if another viking tribe decided to attack. Not that that ever happened.

“Isn’t it a bit late for you to be up?” Ruby’s shoulders sagged in relief. Her uncle. Not her dad. She could get away with this.

“I was just going for a walk.” She tried to excuse herself.

Qrow hummed. “Right, just like yesterday, I assume.”

Her heart skipped a beat at his casual words. He knew she had gone out in the dragon raid yesterday. How had he known that? She’d been so careful sneaking back in.

Qrow sighed. “Look, kid, you don’t have to tell me what you were doing. I trust you not to go looking for trouble like your sister. But that doesn’t mean it won’t find you anyway. Just, try not to get yourself killed. There are dangerous dragons in that forest.”

Ruby laughed nervously. You have nooo idea, she thought.

“Not that you don’t know that.” His blood red eyes seemed to look right into her soul. Ruby fidgeted, feeling guilty about keeping secrets, but she couldn’t tell him she’d caught a night fury and then let it go. Luckily he changed the subject.

“Tomorrow your dragon killing training will finally begin. You should go to bed and make sure you’re well rested.” He reached for his flask. Her uncle had a bit of an alcohol problem. Not that many would call it such.

“Are you going to be teaching us?”

He stopped took a long sip and sighed again. “Nah, I have some things to take care of.”

Sometimes her uncle was gone suddenly for days on end and no one knew where he went. Or if they did, they wouldn’t tell her.

“Oh, by the way, your dad is going on another search for the dragons’ nest tomorrow. He wants to get one more in before the ice sets in.”

Now it was Ruby’s turn to sigh. Her dad spent a lot of time looking for that nest and every time he left, Ruby was afraid he wouldn’t come back. That was why she had wanted to be a dragon killer in the first place. That way she could go with him instead of staying back here wondering if she’d ever see him again.

“Why is he so obsessed with finding that thing? Doesn’t he realize that finding it won’t bring mom back.”

“It’s not about your mother, Ruby. He wants to find them so that he won’t have to lose you too. You and your sister, you’re all he has left.”

“And you.” She smiled at him.

“And me.” His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.

* * *

Even though she didn’t want to kill dragons anymore, Ruby couldn’t deny that walking into the kill ring for her first dragon killing lesson had a certain thrill to it. The kill ring was a huge dome with metal on top. They could let the dragons loose in there for training without them flying away or burning anything down.

Weiss walked up front, as always. Ren and Nora were attached at the hip. Pyrrha was shadowing Jaune. Blake hung back, as always. That left Yang to torment her.

“You must be the youngest viking to start dragon training ever! This is gonna be so awesome! A dragon killer at thirteen!”

Ruby winced at that, but Yang didn’t notice, bouncing on her feet in her excitement. “I’m just so proud of you!”

Ruby was about to retort, but a booming voice interrupted her. “Ah, yes, your first dragon killing training.”

Peter Port stroked his glorious mustache. “I still remember when I was your age…”

Ruby tuned it out. Port was a great guy, but he had the tendency to talk for hours. Luckily Weiss interrupted him, or they wouldn’t have gotten any dragon training done today.

“Professor! Perhaps we should talk about what types of dragons there are?”

“Ah, yes, of course,” he moved to one of the cage doors. “For the first time ever we have caught the dramillion!”

Everyone cheered. Even Ruby felt excited. The dramillion was a very rare dragon. The thunder that often raided them only contained one and no one had ever seen another. They were capable of shooting two types of flames. But then her excitement fell as she remembered they were going to kill it.

Port moved to the next lever. “Next up we have two deadly nadders.”

Nadders were quick and shot spines with their barbed tail. They had magnesium blasts too. They were not a dragon that was easy to kill.

“We have a Terrible terror,” Terrors were tiny and cat-like. They could shoot fire, but generally weren’t incredibly dangerous on their own. They did, however work together incredibly well.

“A zippleback,” zipplebacks had two heads and were very tricky.

“A monsterous nightmare,”

“Aw, yeah,” Of course Yang would love these dragons. They were tough and extremely hard to kill. Plus, they had the nasty habit of setting themselves on fire. A trait Yang could surely admire.

“And a gronckle.” Gronckles were big and bulky. They had hard tail bludgeons and could spew magma and eat rocks. They were not the fastest, so when fighting them she should be okay.

“Wait! Aren’t you going to teach us first?!”at Jaune’s frightened outburst Ruby realized Professor Port had begun pushing the lever down to release the Gronckle.

“I believe in learning on the job.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, and now we're a bit further in the story and we actually get some hints about Summer (still not much though) and the first lesson in dragon fighting. 
> 
> I had to make a few adjustments in the available dragons so that everyone could get a dragon to ride that suited them. Can anyone guess who will end up riding which dragon?


	3. The one where Ruby is not the best warrior

The eight kids scattered as soon as the gronckle was released. Yang immediately started attacking it with her mace, but somehow she kept missing. The gronckle seemed to be faster than the had thought. 

 

“Now, class, what is the first thing you’ll need for dragon killing?”

 

“A doctor?” Jaune, no.

 

“Another mace?” Yang, no.

 

“A shield.” Pyrrha raced to the shields before she was done speaking. She tossed one to Jaune, who immediately dropped it. 

 

“If you get blasted, you’re dead.”

 

Nora dodged the tail and ducked behind Ren’s shield with her hammer. 

 

“Nora-!” A lava blast splintered the shield. 

 

“Ah, the first two disqualified of the day. Ren, Nora, you’re out! Better luck next time. Now, every dragon has a shot limit. How many shots does a gronckle have?” 

 

“Six!” Weiss, of course, knew all the facts about any kind of dragon. 

 

“Correct, miss Schnee. That reminds me of when I was younger. Of course _I_ never had to wait until a dragon was out of shots. Why, I just…”

 

Yang was the next one out. She was so distracted by Port’s voice that she forgot to keep track of the dragon, until it was right behind her. 

 

The gronckle’s flight pattern was very unpredictable. It flew around like a dazed bumblebee. Except much bigger and more dangerous. 

 

Its next shot was aimed for Blake, but it missed, leaving it with three shots and five of them. She might actually make it. Of course, right as Ruby thought this, her shield got blasted. 

 

“Mrs Rose, you’re dead. Not badly done for your first lesson, but you might want to learn more about the flight patterns of your dragons. It will help you dodge. Why, when I was…”

 

Ruby sighed and went to sit with her sister. She would never impress Weiss at this rate. Luckily Weiss and Blake bumped into each other at that exact moment and got blasted. 

 

“Hey!”

 

“Watch where you’re going!” Weiss stood up from where she’d fallen to glare at Blake, who glared back just as hard. 

 

“Miss Schnee, miss Belladonna, you’re both out so if you could please remove yourselves from the field...”

 

With one last glare Weiss turned and walked away from Blake.

 

“Yikes, bossy much.” Yang whispered to Nora, who was sitting next to her. 

 

“Mhm.” 

 

“Jaune!” Pyrrha’s voice cut through the kill ring. Ruby turned her attention back to the gronckle and gasped. In the chaos the gronckle had managed to sneak up on a distracted Jaune. He hadn’t noticed it. It still had a shot left. At Pyrrha’s shout Jaune finally turned around and finally noticed the gronckle. The shield slipped out of his grasp and rolled away. Now he was cornered  _ and  _ defenseless. 

 

Luckily Professor Port showed up right as the gronckle was about to turn Jaune into Jaune flambé. He tackled the gronckle and locked it back in its cage. 

 

“Hah, that dragon was no match for an experienced huntsman such as me. Now, remember kids, a dragon will  _ always  _ go for the kill.”

 

* * *

 

“So, why didn’t  _ you _ ?” After Jaune had nearly been flambéd, Port let them out of class and told them to read up on the dragon manual and analyze their mistakes. Ruby knew her mistake: trying to fight a dragon when she obviously couldn’t kill one. So she’d retraced her steps back into the forest where she’d released the night fury. She looked at the direction the dragon had flown off to and started to follow it. It didn’t take long before she reached a grove. It was beautiful with trees and plants and a lake in the center. 

 

But no dragon. 

 

Ruby felt disappointed.  _ Of course there’s no dragon! It had probably flew off somewhere _ , she chastised herself. But when she looked down, she noticed a trail of flat, black stones. She grabbed one and ran her hands over it. It felt  _ organic _ , almost like a-

 

Ruby was started as a large black shape suddenly appeared before her. The dragon. It was trying to fly up the walls. Its scales looked exactly like the one she just dropped. 

 

As the dragon fell to the ground, Ruby moved closer and grabbed her notebook and pencil, sketching the dragon. It was smaller than she had expected. Smaller than a nadder, but it had a large wingspan and a flat head. It almost looked like a strange mix between a cat and a bat. 

 

Except… it only had one tailfin. 

 

* * *

 

The next day they were dealing with nadders. Port had created a maze of wooden planks in the kill ring and there they were, running for their lives. Ren, Nora and Jaune were already out. Which left Yang, Blake, Pyrrha, Weiss and Ruby to run around dodging the icey blue spines of the nadder. The best thing about fighting nadders was that they had big blind spots, meaning that it was easier to hide from it. 

 

As Ruby was sneaking around, trying to find the nadder, she spotted Weiss, hiding from it around the corner. Weiss beckoned her and shushed her. She jumped around the corner and stabbed her sword right at its face. It ran away and Weiss groaned in frustration. “Come on, Ruby! We can pin it down!”

 

Ruby ran around the maze, using a different route than Weiss was taking so they could corner it. She found it right as it swept its tail into Blake, throwing her into the wooden walls, which started a domino effect. 

 

“Hurry up!” Weiss’s bossy tone snapped Ruby’s attention from Blake back to the dragon, which had noticed them. She ran and threw her axe at it so it would be distracted from Weiss’s approach on its left.

 

“What are you doing?!” The nadder ran to her and prepared to shoot its spines as Ruby hid behind her shield, only to be saved by Yang, who jumped from one of the walls that hadn’t toppled over yet and bashed her mace into the nadder’s head, knocking it unconscious. 

 

“What was that?!” And there was Weiss, yelling in her ear. 

 

“I was trying to distract it so you could attack!”

 

“Nadders are too quick for that! Do you even have  _ any _ idea what you’re doing?!”

 

“At least I’m not acting like I know everything!”

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

 

“It means you’re a big, stupid jerk and I hate you!” Ruby stomped her foot on the ground, tears welling up in her eyes. She knew she sounded like a child right now but she was just so frustrated. 

 

“Ugh, stop acting like a child!”

 

“Well, stop acting like you’re perfect!”

 

“I’m  _ not _ perfect!” Wow, she could admit it. Who knew Weiss had it in her. 

 

“Not yet, but I’m still leagues better than you.” With this Weiss walked out the kill ring. 

 

“Hey! Don’t talk to my sister like that!” Yang shouted after her, but Ruby barely even heard it. She ran off out of the kill ring and into the forest, tears streaming down her face, her sister’s shouts fading off in the distance behind her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took a few lines here directly from canon, since I felt like they fit. Weiss is being a little mean here, but she was also a little mean in canon. She'll get character development soon enough, though.
> 
> I have received several answers on who will train which dragon. I won't tell you whether you're right yet. I'll save that until all the dragons have actually made an appearance. Perhaps you'll find some hints in my writing as to who will get which dragon. Feel free to keep sending your answers. 
> 
> I had some difficulties with this chapter, since I'm not the best at writing fight scenes, but I'm pleased with the result.


	4. The one where Ruby lacks all sense of self-preservation

_ Leagues better than you  _

 

Ruby was so upset, she hadn’t realized she’d ended up near the grove until she stopped running. She thought of dragon training and the actual live dragon stuck down here. She turned around and ran back to Patch, sneaking down to the docks. There was a fresh haul of fish. There were so many, one would surely not be missed. Ruby grabbed a fish and a shield from the harbor and snuck back into the forest. She was going to need that shield. Luckily there were lots of shields laying around in Patch. 

 

As she snuck into the grove she realized she had forgotten her axe in the kill ring and only had a knife to defend herself. She sighed. She had  _ not  _ thought this through. Oh well. She threw the fish out in the open from where she was standing behind the cover of several large rocks and her shield. She looked around, waiting for the dragon to come and snatch the fish so she could study it, but it was nowhere to be found. 

 

Ruby moved forward towards the fish, but her shield got stuck between the rocks. Seemed she’d have to leave it behind. Today was  _ not _ her lucky day. 

 

Ruby ducked underneath the shield, now only armed with a small knife and a fish, not that either would actually help her, but it still felt comforting, when she suddenly felt a presence behind her. Turning around she noticed the night fury perched on a big rock and slowly coming towards her. She held out the fish. The night fury seemed interested, but backed away growling as it noticed her knife. 

 

Oh, she was going to regret this. 

 

She slowly reached for her knife, flinching as the dragon growled louder, and threw it in the lake to her right. Then she held out the fish again. The dragon, now placated, slowly walked up to her and ate the fish from her hand. 

 

Then it didn’t stop moving closer. It began sniffing at her and as she backed away, keenly aware of her defenselessness, it suddenly licked her. She laughed tentatively. It was just such a strange situation. 

 

“At least you don’t hate me.” 

 

She was startled to see the dragon tentatively smiling back, retracting its teeth. 

 

Wait, retractable teeth? Ruby looked again and yes, the dragon’s teeth were gone. How fascinating. She reached out to touch it, but the dragon growled at her and moved away. It hung itself upside down from a tree, almost like a bat, and closed its eyes. 

 

It… was going to sleep. Ruby got the hint. She wasn’t wanted here either. But she didn’t want to go back to Patch just yet, so she sat down on a nearby rock and grabbed a stick to sketch the dragon with. 

 

It wasn’t great, Blake was the artist, not her, but it was recognizable. She was just working on drawing the eyes, when she noticed the dragon watching over her shoulder. Then it just walked off and grabbed a tree. 

 

Ruby blinked. The dragon was using the tree to draw lines in the earth just like she had done with her stick. Ruby waited until the dragon finished its drawing and stood up to get a good look at all the lines on the floor. She stepped backwards and the dragon started growling at her. Looking down, Ruby noticed she had stepped on a line. 

 

She carefully lifted her foot. The dragon stopped growling. She put it down again. It started growling again. She lifted her foot again and stepped over the line this time. The dragon did not growl. 

 

It hit her like mace to the head. The dragon was trying to communicate with her. It  _ did _ like her. 

 

Carefully Ruby started making her way out of the dragon’s drawing. Taking care not to step on any lines, she was so focused that she hadn’t realized she was walking right over to the dragon until she felt its breath in her neck. She turned around and, mesmerized by the dragon’s gaze, decided to try again to touch its snout. She reached out her hand towards the dragon. It growled at her again, yet with a clarity she could not remember ever having had before, she knew what to do. 

 

She turned her head away from the dragon and closed her eyes. Then she reached out her hand again… and waited. 

 

As Ruby stuck out her hand, the dragon leaned in to meet her halfway and pressed its nose against Ruby’s palms. Breathless, Ruby opened her eyes and stared right into the dragon’s green ones. The dragon snorted and moved away again. 

 

_ What was that? _

 

* * *

 

Weiss stabbed the tree with all her might, then paused to catch her breath. The forest had always been the best place to practise. It had plenty of targets and people wouldn’t interrupt her here. It was a good place to get rid of her frustrations. 

 

She sighed. She might have been a little too harsh on Ruby, but someone had to do it. Ruby had always bothered her. It was just something about her that was so  _ infuriating _ . Ruby was just so childish and dimwitted and hyperactive and Weiss could not believe she’d have to regularly collaborate with her in the future. 

 

Oh, she knew Ruby wasn’t  _ officially _ the heir of Patch yet, but everyone also knew that  _ Yang _ wasn’t going to be chief. She wouldn’t want to. Yang was many things, but a leader she was not. And that was the most infuriating part of it all. Weiss knew Ruby  _ was _ , or could be, if she only  _ tried _ . But instead, she dozed off during classes, spent her time with her head in the clouds or tinkering in that forge! Ruby just needed to learn to be responsible. Like Weiss. 

  
Weiss had  _ always _ needed to be responsible. Ever since she was little and the war with the scum from Menagerie began. Those faunus only knew how to lie, cheat and steal. Weiss decimated another tree at the thought of executed family friends and sad snoggletogs. And while she wouldn’t ever wish that on Ruby, she did want to prepare her for such hurts later in life. They were vikings. Life was not all sunshine and rainbows. They were not supposed to be as innocent and adorable as Ruby was. They needed to be tough and strong so life could not bring them down. No matter what it threw at them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For reference, Snoggletog is kinda like Christmas or Yule. At least, that's how they use it in HTTYD. I'm not sure how historically accurate it is. But for the sake of this fic, just assume it's Christmas.   
> It might take me a while to post the next chapter, since my exams are coming up. I had a few chapters stacked, but I'm all out now, so I'm gonna see if I can post chapter 5the week after my exams, but it might take a little longer. You can expect it to be there before June, though.


	5. The one where socially awkward situations are the real monsters

“... and I saw its hate for me in its ginormous red eyes and I knew it wanted nothing more than to burn me to a crisp. But the dragon was no match for me and I took it down by using the good old Port Slice on its hind legs and slicing all the way through its tail, before chopping its head straight off with my axe!”

 

“Huh, wha-?” As Port’s tale finished, so did Ruby’s nap. She looked around to find many others in similar positions. The only one actually awake and paying attention seemed to be Weiss. But could you blame them? Port’s tales were so repetitive and the bonfire was so soothing and almost hypnotic. 

 

“That actually reminds me of the time I killed a monstrous nightmare with nothing but my bare hands!” Ruby thought of the dragon in the cove. She would never forgive herself if she killed a dragon. Not now, after having befriended one. Just the thought of it made her sick. But what was she going to do? She couldn’t just leave her family. But that was the choice, she supposed. The dragon or her family. 

 

“Hang on, why didn’t the dragon just fly away?” It seemed Jaune was paying attention after all. Well, he  _ did _ want to get stronger.

 

“Well, I’d injured its tail, of course! Dragons need their tail for flight. Cut off the tail or the wings and the dragon is as good as dead!”

 

_ As good as dead.  _ Ruby thought with a heavy heart.  _ She might have let him go, but she had still killed him... _

 

_ Not if I have anything to say about it!  _ An idea blossomed in Ruby’s mind. She snuck away from the bonfire, unaware of ice blue eyes trailing her.  

 

* * *

 

The following morning Ruby went back to the cove. She had stayed up all night to finish her project and now she just had to test it to see if it worked the way she intended it to. She brought a basket of fish with her to make sure she could access the dragon’s tail without upsetting him. 

 

A sudden realization stopped her in her tracks. She had not yet given the dragon a name. She couldn’t just keep calling him “dragon”, that was stupid. Even if she wasn’t going to talk about him with anyone, the dragon deserved a name. 

 

What was a good name for a dragon?

 

Toothless? Nah, that seemed a little on the nose. 

 

Midnight? He  _ was _ that colour, but that didn’t quite fit either. 

 

So how about… “Zwei!” She was brilliant. That was the perfect name for a deadly-but-very-cute dragon! Why didn’t she think of it before. 

 

The dra-Zwei looked up at the sudden shout, seemingly alarmed, so Ruby just put the basket down and kicked it over so Zwei had access to all the fish he could want. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. It’s just your name. You don’t mind, do you? I mean, I need to call you  _ something _ .”

 

As Ruby talked, she inched over to Zwei’s tail so she could attach her prosthetic fin to it, but Zwei was moving his tail at a rapid speed. It reminded her of certain animals in the forest that would wag their tails if they were happy. Zwei seemed to be a mix of a bat, cat and dog. It was certainly interesting. 

 

As for the problem at hand, Ruby decided to take a leap of faith. Literally in this case. She jumped on top of the tail and quickly attached the fin, completely giving up on her earlier stealthy approach. 

 

As Zwei felt her land on her tail he spread his wings and took off with Ruby still hanging from the tail. While holding on for dear life, Ruby noticed that the wind was keeping the fin from unfolding. Of course, she had forgotten to take motion into account. Zwei couldn’t control the tail and now they were plummeting to the ground again. So Ruby grabbed the fin and  _ yanked _ it open. 

 

_ Flying is the most wonderful thing in the world, _ was Ruby’s first thought. Even hanging on to a wildly swinging tail it was so beautiful. Ruby felt even worse about taking it from him, but this experience only fueled her determination to fix it. 

 

...That is, if she could get him to land safely. 

 

That was apparently not something she had to worry about, because as soon as they were gliding over the lake Zwei took a sharp turn and Ruby flew right off the tail, causing Zwei to once again crash into the lake. 

 

 

* * *

 

When Ruby got home she was still drenched from her dip in the lake. She had noticed when she dragged herself out of the water that Zwei had left the eels, so she took them back. Maybe he just didn’t like eels. He’d hardly be the only one. 

 

She’d just barely changed into dry clothes when Yang dragged her to dragon training for the next lesson. Ruby had hoped to skip this one. She’d begun dreading dragon training for multiple reasons. The whole training-to-kill-dragons part, obviously, but more recently she just didn’t want to talk to Weiss. She’d been doing a great job avoiding her, aside from the campfire from last night, but she’d left that before Weiss had the chance to talk to her. Ruby didn’t want to get yelled at again. 

 

This lesson was different again. Port’s lessons were always weird. It kept her from knowing what to expect. First there was the gronckle, which was pretty straight forward, then there was a maze and now there was mist. Just mist. Port handed them all a bucket filled with water and just sent them inside. Ruby didn’t know what to expect. 

 

“Water is always good to have on hand. A wet dragon’s head can’t light its fire. A _ zippleback _ is tricky, though. It has two heads. One breathes gas, the other lights it. You have to find the head that sparks and drench it in water. Of course, when I was your age…” And Ruby tuned him out. 

 

Zipplebacks. Ruby remembered what she’d read about those. They were definitely sneaky. She had to think of Ren and Blake, except they seemed to act more like Nora. Now that she mentioned it, they seemed to be a mix of Ren and Nora. Zipplebacks were Renora dragons. 

 

And she’d gotten distracted. This was  _ not _ her day. 

 

While Ruby was thinking of Ren, Nora and zipplebacks, the zippleback in the room had already taken out almost all the vikings. Now there was just her and Jaune. Which meant there was a very small chance they’d actually manage to pass this class.  _ Sorry, Jaune, but it’s true _ .

 

Even as she thought it, Jaune emptied his water bucket on the wrong head. Of course that _ did  _ tell her which head was which, but in her distraction she had tripped over one of the zippleback’s tails and now she was drenched in her own water. Again. 

 

Not. Her. Day. 

 

And that was when things got weird. First the zippleback attacked, but then it  _ \- He? They? -  _ started backing away from her, as if she scared it. It took her a moment to realize that she still had the eel hidden underneath her cloak. Perhaps it was the scent that drove the dragon off. 

 

Dragons must really not like eels. 

 

Ruby herded the zippleback back into its cage and threw the eel after it, before closing the doors.  _ There, done for today.  _

 

She turned around, ready to leave, only to notice everyone staring at her like she’d grown a second head.  _ Or seemingly controlled a dragon with her mind.  _

 

“Uhm, so, ok. I need to sorta be somewhere, so if we’re done? Okay, yeah, uhm... Bye!” Ruby ran like she was being chased by a dragon, or in this case, social awkwardness. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I'm back. Finally finished exams. Now I'm just hoping I didn't screw everything up. 
> 
> Ruby is socially awkward. I think that's nothing new. She's also really good at engineering (I mean, have you seen Crescent Rose?) so making a prosthetic fin isn't that difficult for her. It still took her the better part of the night, though.


	6. The one where Ruby gets roasted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby goes flying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so yea this one is really really really late. I could give a lot of excuses, but really I've just been procrastinating for ages. Tbh, I have no idea when the next chapter will be either. I hope it won't take as long as this one, but I have no clue. I might write a few different things though. 
> 
> I did this rather last minute and I really wanted to post it today because today's my birthday (yay) so so special thanks to my beta, TruncatedGrip, who was totally willing to beta it immediately after I asked them.

Over the next few days Ruby worked hard to get Zwei back into the air. She made a saddle and a buckle to keep her  _ on _ said saddle, and she linked the saddle to the tailfin so that she could position it with her feet.

 

In the meantime she learned a lot about dragons, which really helped her in the dragon arena. Apparently dragons did not like eels. At all. But they  _ did  _ like this one specific plant that grew near the grove. She called it dragonnip, because the dragons reacted similarly to the dragonnip as cats did to catnip. 

 

She was a genius.

 

She’d also figured out that dragons have this spot on their neck and if you scratch them there they fall down at your feet and start purring in contentment. Thanks to these tricks she was now the top student in the class, which was great, but Weiss seemed to be suspicious of her actions, which was less great. She’d already had several close encounters. 

 

One time she’d been testing the latest additions to her saddle by gliding on the wind using a rope to keep her near the ground, but then the rope snapped and she flew right into the trees behind her. Needless to say that was not fun. The link she’d made to connect her to the saddle got bent so she needed to take Zwei into town to get it off. And of course, right as she was doing that, Weiss showed up. Ruby barely managed to get away in time, but Weiss definitely knew something was up now. 

 

On the bright side, she hadn’t run into any more difficulties with her saddle so she could finally try to fly with Zwei. She’d written a note with tail positions so that she wouldn’t mess up mid-flight. That would really be disastrous. 

 

“Come on, Zwei, let’s get this right!” 

 

She pushed the pedal connecting her foot to Zwei’s tail fin to get the right angle for take off and held on to the saddle as Zwei jumped into the air and began flying. It wasn’t long before they reached the cliffs and she could look out over the ocean. She really loved this. 

 

“Alright, Zwei, we can do this! Position three- no, I mean four! Yeah, position four.” Ruby double-checked her cheat sheet to make sure she had it right and pushed the pedal so that Zwei flew in a nice circle. 

 

“Alright, that worked. Now let’s go for a dive!” Ruby leaned forward in her seat and Zwei began to dive towards a stone arch, easily flying underneath.    


“Yes! We did it Zwei! We’re awesome!”

 

Of course that was the exact moment Ruby flew into a rock. She apologized to Zwei only for it to happen again. “My bad, sorry. Position four- no, wait, three.”

 

Ruby pushed the pedal in the right position again and Zwei started flying straight up. Ruby felt the wind through her hair and her signatory cape. It was amazing. She had never felt so free. No responsibilities, no expectations, no Weiss constantly berating her for everything she did. Just her and Zwei and the wind. 

 

And then she lost her cheat sheet. 

 

“Wait! No! Stooop!” Ruby just managed to catch it when Zwei stopped flapping his wings, the momentum carrying Ruby out of her seat and the clasp keeping her connected to the saddle opening suddenly, which meant that Ruby was now separated from Zwei. 

 

Ruby fell. And Zwei fell. There was a lot of yelling, Ruby’s hands endlessly grasping at thin air trying to get back to Zwei. The trees were getting closer and closer until - yes! There! Ruby’s hands gripped the saddle and she pulled herself back into it, pulling him up out of their dive and trying to slow their descent before they crashed into the trees below them, only for them to race towards the sea stacks in front of them. 

 

Ruby desperately looked at her cheat sheet, trying to memorize it before they died, but the wind kept blowing it every which way so she couldn’t read a thing. 

 

She threw the paper into the wind and pushed down the pedal, letting her instincts guide her. Left, right, up, corkscrew, left, down, right and finally no more sea stacks in sight. They had made it. 

 

Excitement bubbled up inside her. They had made it! Without her cheat sheet! They flew and she wasn’t dead! 

 

Zwei seemed to share her excitement because he shot a plasma blast into the air in front of them. And flew right through it.

 

 

* * *

 

Ruby felt kind of crispy. She didn’t know that was possible, but apparently that was what flying through fire did. Was this how roasted chicken felt? 

 

She and Zwei were eating fish. Of course she was roasting hers and Zwei was just eating his raw. He had a whole mountain of them and occasionally tried to share, which was sweet, but Ruby preferred her fish roasted. And not regurgitated. 

 

That mountain of fish was probably what had attracted the Terrible Terrors, though. They kept trying to steal Zwei’s fish, which he did not agree with so he set one of them on fire on the inside. Apparently that was a thing. The Terrible Terror would get ready to blow fire and Toothless would aim for the gases within its mouth. It was really interesting. She’d never thought she’d learn so much about dragons. 

 

Still, she felt sort of bad for the little guy, so she gave him one of her fish. He gobbled up the fish in one bite, despite the fact that he wasn’t much bigger than his meal. Giving him a fish seemed to win his trust because he immediately cuddled up to her, almost like a cat. He even purred. It was adorable and so  _ different _ from what she’d been told about them. 

 

“Everything we know about you guys is wrong!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm planning on writing the plot of the first and second movie and the series as well, so don't worry about it being discontinued. I'm definitely not going to do that. That being said, the part I really wanted to write takes place in the Race To The Edge arc so I might get a little unmotivated from time to time while I'm still at this part in the story. 
> 
> About that, I should warn you, the HTTYD arc can be read separately so if you don't want to continue reading after that it's completely possible. I tell you this because I'm planning on including some ships in the Race To The Edge and HTTYD2 arcs that aren't very popular. These ships will be tagged in those works, but not in this one so that you can still read this one separately.  
> Of course White Rose will continue to be in this entire series because apparently Ruby's decided she's in love with Weiss in this version. Honestly, this was not my intention. It just sort of happened. This is the true gay agenda. 
> 
> When HTTYD3 comes out I might also write a story for that, depending on whether or not the general plot fits the story. I'm purposely not revealing Salem yet until I've seen HTTYD3 yet, specifically for that reason. And the same thing goes for Rescue Riders, although that one will likely be written last.


	7. The one where Ruby wins the ‘most teenage angst’ award

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby leaned back in her chair with an exaggerated sigh, rubbing her face in frustration, before looking around her room. As she scanned her surroundings she suddenly noticed her dad standing in the doorway.
> 
> “Hey! Dad!” She jumped up and immediately began sweeping her research behind her in the hopes he wouldn’t notice. She leaned back against her desk to block his view and hoped she looked casual enough for him to not notice it. “Wha- You’re back! Hi!”
> 
> Yes, that should convince him she wasn’t doing anything sneaky.

Ruby sat in her drawing room, twirling her pencil over her many drawings of Zwei and pondering her recent revelation.  _ Everything _ they knew about dragons was wrong. Well, maybe not everything. The things they needed to know to kill dragons were still pretty accurate. Noise, blind spots, shot limits, etc. But when it came to the important stuff, everything they knew was wrong. 

 

Dragons weren’t just monsters who killed vikings whenever they saw them. They were wonderful creatures who just wanted to fly. And now that she’d seen their world, she wasn’t sure she ever wanted to go back. 

 

But no! What was she thinking! She couldn’t leave behind her dad! Or Yang! Or Weiss! Though she wasn’t sure the latter would miss her. 

 

Ruby leaned back in her chair with an exaggerated sigh, rubbing her face in frustration, before looking around her room. As she scanned her surroundings she suddenly noticed her dad standing in the doorway. 

 

“Hey! Dad!” She jumped up and immediately began sweeping her research behind her in the hopes he wouldn’t notice. She leaned back against her desk to block his view and hoped she looked casual enough for him to not notice it. “Wha- You’re back! Hi!”

 

Yes, that should convince him she wasn’t doing anything sneaky. 

 

He smiled softly at her. “Hey Ruby, how’s my little warrior?” He walked into the room and went for a hug, but she grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the room, hoping to keep him from the pages incriminating her as a traitor. “Oh, we’re- okay, I guess we’re outside now. I’d thought I’d have a few more years before you began spreading your wings, but I guess I was wrong.” 

 

Ruby internally cringed at his word choice and felt a pit in her stomach as she forced a smile. “Oh yea, you know how it is. Girl stuff and all.”

 

“So, Qrow told me that you’ve been doing great in dragon training recently.” 

 

That startled her. “Uncle Qrow is back too?”

 

He shrugged. “Yeah, you know how he is. Just comes and goes whenever he feels like it.” He awkwardly rubbed his neck. “Anyway, I just wanted to say I’m so proud of you. You know, I was worried at first about advancing you to dragon training so quickly, but it seems almost like you’re a natural. You just have this  _ way  _ with them.” He relaxed and smiled at her, holding out a package for her that she hadn’t noticed before. “Here. Your mother wanted to give this to you when you started warrior training.” 

 

Ruby unwrapped the present to find a red axe with a very long, red handle. It was even longer than the one she already had. She looked at her dad questioningly. 

 

“As you know, your mother was the main healer of our village. That meant she’d need to travel to find special materials from time to time. When she was your age she went on one of those journeys and met a völva. They spoke and the volva directed her to the herbs she needed, but not before giving your mother a parchment with a drawing of an axe -  _ this _ axe - and telling her that that was the weapon her youngest would need. This weapon was fated to be yours. Eh, I think you’re supposed to work on it yourself too, so that it “grows with you” or something.”

 

Ruby was speechless. She had been so young when she’d lost her mother. She had things that had belonged to her, but she’d never thought she’d ever get anything that her mother had made specifically for her. Not something like this. Something that somehow was perfect for her. It hurt so much to think that her mother would never really know her, but maybe she did. 

 

She couldn’t stop the smile threatening to split her face in half if she wanted to. 

 

Who knows, maybe her mom was even proud of the girl she became.

 

 

* * *

 

“Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome!” Port’s booming voice echoed through the arena as he spoke to all the vikings gathered to watch them. There weren’t usually this many, but ever since Ruby started using her newfound tricks everyone had come to watch them and of course Port couldn’t help playing it up for an audience. Especially because Oobleck, their teacher and stand-in healer, was here today to pick who would get the honour of fighting the Monsterous Nightmare. 

 

Ruby hoped it wouldn’t be her, but with the way things had been going recently she wouldn’t be surprised if she somehow got picked anyway. 

 

“You nervous, kid?” Ruby turned around to see her uncle. 

 

“I-”

 

“Awww! You’ll do great, Ruby!” Yang interrupted her, slinging an arm around her shoulders. “I mean, considering how things have been going lately, you might even win!”

 

_ Yes, that’s exactly what I’m afraid of.  _ Ruby thought, but she didn’t say it.  Instead she forced another smile, like she had been doing a lot lately. 

 

“Just remember, kid, if you mess up somehow, we’re here to fix things for you. That’s what adults are for, you know. Especially your family. So, no pressure.” 

 

Ruby tensed. He couldn’t know, right? He was just talking about the match and trying to take the pressure off her. There’s no way he knew about Zwei, right?

 

“Alright, time to kick some dragon ass!” They lined up in front of the gates, waiting for them to open and let them in. Waiting for the most important battle of their youths. Waiting. For the battle that would change everything. 

 

Ruby swallowed, gripping her new axe. 

 

“Hey Ruby?” Ruby looked over to see Weiss, looking just as nervous as she felt, though it was undoubtedly for different reasons. She hesitantly smiled at her, remembering their last interaction quite well.  _ Oh please don’t yell at me now. _

 

But instead a soft smile spread over Weiss’s face like the rare summer snows on their island and Ruby’s heart skipped a beat. “Good luck.” 

 

The gates opened. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Qrow doesn't know precisely what's going on with Ruby, but he suspects it's got something to do with dragons, Ruby's new skills, and she's probably overcomplicating it. He's trying to let her know, subtly, that she should just talk to them about it and that she shouldn't be so worried. Of course, Ruby doesn't quite get it.
> 
> Btw, the weapons are gonna be a thing too. They have their specific weapon preferences, but since mechaweapons aren't a thing in viking times, the weapons can be easily replaced if they ever break. Before this chapter Ruby fought with a regular one sided axe with a slightly longer handle so she has more swing in it. What she has now is basically a scythe but without the curved blade and it's the beginnings of what will eventually become Crescent Rose. She's gonna tinker on it later to gradually turn it into what we know in actual RWBY. 
> 
> Aaand before I forget, all information about Summer Rose is important. I have an idea for her story and I will not change it based on any revelations in canon RWBY in the future. The basics for Summer's arc are already in this story but it will not be touched on until the sequel (or the sequel's sequel? I'm not quite sure how I'm gonna pace it yet).


	8. The one where Ruby has the worst luck, but Zwei is adorable so things work out anyway

They were supposed to fight the Dramillion and whoever beat it would get the honour of killing the Monsterous Nightmare. The Dramillion was a good test because it had the magnesium blasts of the Deadly Nadders and the lava blasts of the Gronckles.

 

Plus it was clever. 

 

Things started okay. Weiss’ form was amazing and Yang was strong and Pyrrha was so quick.  But right when Ruby thought that maybe she wouldn’t end up winning this, things started going south. Within minutes it tricked Nora into taking both Jaune and Ren out with her hammer. Ruby hoped they were okay, but this happened a lot so she wasn’t worried. It then melted Nora’s hammer with its lava blasts, which Nora was very upset about, and swiped her into Yang. Meanwhile Blake was temporarily blinded by the brightness of the Dramillion’s magnesium blast that only just missed her. She accidentally tangled Weiss and herself up in her chains. So now it was only Ruby and Pyrrha left.

 

Versus a very clever dragon. 

 

_ Please let Pyrrha win this. I don’t want to kill a dragon. I  _ can’t  _ kill a dragon.  _

 

Pyrrha threw her spear at the dragon’s left and jumped over it, catching her spear and landing on it’s right, throwing her shield at its snout in an attempt to stun it, but the dragon dodged her, too quick, and aimed a magnesium blast straight for her head, but Pyrrha had already caught her shield and lifted it just in time. She started hitting her shield with her spear while dodging blasts and Ruby knew Pyrrha was just wearing the dragon out, letting it reach its shot limit so she could take it down.

 

It shouldn’t take long now, so Ruby just dodged the blasts and tried to make it look like that was so difficult that she couldn’t focus on trying to take the dragon down. She knew no one would fault her for not winning this as long as she at least  _ looked _ like she tried, so she put all her effort in making it seem more difficult than it was. 

 

Truthfully, the number of people in such a small arena all trying to outdo each other in fighting that dragon just made it way harder than it needed to be. It got easier once others were already out. 

 

Ruby was so focused on her train on thought that she didn’t notice the Dramillion had swiped Pyrrha away with its tail and was now heading for her until it was almost in front of her. She gasped and flinched, but the dragon just stopped in front of her and keeled over. 

 

_ Hip berry jam on a buiscuit _

 

The crowd cheered. 

 

“Well, then!” Port’s voice boomed over the audience. “It seems we have our winner!” 

 

Oobleck smiled at her. “Ruby Rose, you have proven yourself to be the most skilled dragonfighter in this arena. I hereby give you the honour of fighting the Monsterous Nightmare. Congratulations, young lady.” 

 

_ Oh no _

 

Everyone was cheering. Yang threw an arm around her shoulders, congratulating her. Long live the chief’s youngest daughter. The dragon prodigy. 

 

She cheered halfheartedly, the familiar fake smile already plastered on her face. “Hurray. Yes. I am  _ so…” _

 

* * *

 

“...Leaving!” Ruby stepped into the grove with a woven basket filled with supplies and her axe on her back, looking around for Zwei. “We’re leaving. Let’s pack up! We’re taking a little vacation.”

 

Ruby sighed and plopped her basket down by a rock and sat down, putting her head in her hands. “Forever…”

 

“Leaving? Why?” Ruby’s head shot up to see Weiss standing in the grove. Ruby jumped to her feet, fear filling her from head to toe. 

 

“Weiss! Wha- What are you doing here!”

 

“I followed you. There were so many people around and I felt we had to talk.” Ruby was glad to see Weiss dropped the subject for now, but she still looked concerned and Ruby knew she’d bring it up again later. If Ruby could just get Weiss to leave then she could come up with an excuse and it would be like nothing- Oh, who was she kidding. Things were never going back to normal. She didn’t want them to. But if she could get Weiss out of here, then maybe she could disappear without anyone following her. 

 

Weiss sighed. “Ruby, I know I seem harsh sometimes and that I can be… difficult in my ambition, but I want you to know I’m only pushing you because I  _ know _ you have the potential to be great.” 

 

As Weiss was talking Ruby heard the bushes rustling and a shadow moving behind her.  _ Oh, that is  _ just  _ my luck. _

 

She tried desperately to signal Zwei to back off and not come any closer without giving it away to Weiss. “Ruby, are you listening?” 

 

Ruby gave Weiss a thumbs up and a grin. “Yes, great potential, pushing me.”

 

“Well, I just wanted to say I’m really proud of how far you’ve come in the last few weeks, even if I don’t get  _ how _ you managed to do it and- Wait, what was that?” Weiss turned around, just as Zwei started rushing at them in his excitement. 

 

“Ruby, get back!” She screamed while drawing her sword in preparation to strike. 

 

Ruby was on the move before Weiss had gotten out the words. She grabbed Weiss’ arm just as she swung her sword and pushed it down, taking the sword from her grip and immediately shoving it out of reach, before putting her hand up to Zwei to calm him down. 

 

“No! No, no no no. It’s okay!” Ruby wasn’t sure if it helped that Zwei was just licking her outstretched hand now, but at least he wasn’t showing teeth so he probably looked less intimidating than he could be. 

 

“Ruby. What. The. Dragon.” 

 

Weiss, on the other hand, looked like Ruby had just grown a second head. 

 

...Or tamed a dragon. 

 

Ruby sighed. “Weiss, meet Zwei. Zwei, Weiss.” Zwei looked at Weiss with those huge eyes of his and Ruby could just  _ see _ Weiss’ hesitance and confusion plain on her face. Ruby let Zwei pass and he sat down in front of Weiss and started sniffing at the ground in front of her feet.

 

“Uh, Ruby?” Weiss nervously took a step back. 

 

“ _ This _ is how I’ve gotten so good recently, Weiss. I-” Ruby bit her lip and just decided to come clean. She couldn’t lie to her now. Besides, Weiss didn’t seem particularly mad at her. Confused, yes. Mad, no. “I noticed how he’d react to certain things and I started applying it in the ring, but he’s not dangerous! He can’t fly by himself because of me so I built him a new tail that attaches to my saddle so I can steer him while flying and-” 

 

“Wait,” Weiss held up her hands and looked Ruby directly in the eyes. “You flew? Together?”

 

Ruby smiled and nodded. “Yes, I did.” She walked over to Zwei and climbed on the saddle, reaching a hand out to Weiss. “Want to come with?” 

 

Weiss looked at Zwei, whose tongue just rolled out of its mouth as if nothing was wrong, big eyes looking up at her excitedly. Weiss closed her eyes and took a deep breath before visibly steeling herself and looking straight at Ruby with a piercing gaze. 

 

“Show me.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> According to TG this is when Careless whisper starts playing and rosepetals randomly show up in the background and the lighting turns all romantic, which is actually completely plausible, considering Ruby's semblance can make the petals, Weiss can make music, and this takes place during sunset.


	9. The one where the useless lesbian finally makes a move

The sun was low on the horizon, bathing the seas in an orange glow. Weiss took in a sharp breath, eyes going wide. She looked around and saw the sea stretch out for miles, waves lapping against the occasional seastack, groups of birds flying freely overhead. She could understand why Ruby loved this. She had never felt so free. Then Zwei flew higher and took them through the clouds, emerging on the other side to show them the stars. Tiny freckles of light in the mass of darkness with the auroras seeping through like curtains of blue and green light. Weiss looked down at the city, now drenched in the darkness of the night, also flecked with clusters of light. 

 

“Wow,” Weiss sighed, holding tighter onto Ruby. “This is amazing.” She looked at the girl in her arms. “ _ You’re _ amazing.”

 

Ruby blushed. “I shot him down during the last raid and damaged his tail. I felt so bad about it that I made him a new one, but he can’t fly it on his own. So he lets me do it.”

 

“No, he lets  _ me _ fly with you. He  _ wants  _ you to fly him. He’s not just giving you permission for it. I can tell.” 

 

Weiss tightened her arms around Ruby’s waist. “What are you going to do anyway?”

 

Ruby turned her head to look at her. “What do you mean?”

 

Weiss sighed. “Well, you won. You’re supposed to  _ kill _ a Monstrous Nightmare. And what about next time a dragon raid happens, what will you do then?”

 

Ruby looked down at the sea rushing beneath their feet as Zwei turned slightly to let one of his wings break the water’s surface and send up glimmering drops. “I’m still working on that.”

 

Weiss had more or less expected that answer but she still wasn’t sure how to deal with it. She herself hadn’t quite figured out what  _ her  _ answer to that question was. 

 

What would she do, now that her world had been thoroughly turned upside down? Dragons were supposed to be vicious and terrifying, not… adorable. 

 

And either way, befriending a dragon was treason and Weiss wasn’t sure she wanted to deal with her father’s reaction to  _ that. _

 

Then again, Winter would listen to her and she had always been Weiss’ favorite family member.

 

“Ruby, I want you to know that I-“

 

A loud screech suddenly interrupted her and they found themselves inside a huge pack of dragons all carrying food; chickens, vegetables, sheep, entire  _ baskets  _ of fish.

 

“What’s going on?” Ruby said confused, looking around at all the dragons without a hint of fear.

 

Weiss tugged her down, pressing them against Zwei’s back with a quickly hissed “Get down!” and then they flew into a huge mountain, flying through tunnel after tunnel until they got to a large cavern where Zwei separated himself from the rest of the group and flew towards the side wall where they could see all the other dragons letting go of the food while in the middle of the cavern.

 

“Oooo-kay? They’re just dumping it all in a huge hole?” Ruby sounded confused still, while Weiss just felt offended. 

 

“Great to know our food isn’t just going to waste!” She muttered sarcastically, eyes glaring daggers down into the cavern. 

 

Ruby kept watching the dragons. One of them- a Gronckle- only had one small fish to give. As it fell down into the cavern, something stirred. The Gronckle quickly tried to fly away, but it was too slow and a humongous dragon emerged from the bottom of the cavern and ate the Gronckle whole. 

 

That was when the whole cavern bursted into chaos, dragons flying everywhere, all trying to get out. Zwei quickly got moving too -just in time, because a moment later the jaws of the humongous dragon snapped shut where they had just been. 

 

As Zwei flew towards the exit, Weiss risked a glance back and saw the dragon aim for them again, only to snatch up a passing Zippleback. She felt sort of bad for it, but more than that she felt relieved not to end up right alongside it in that huge belly. 

 

They made it out and a thought occurred to Weiss. 

 

“It’s like a beehive.”

 

“What?” Ruby looked back. “How?”

 

“All those dragons, they’re the workers and that big one,  _ that’s  _ their queen!” Zwei bounced to a stop back in the grove. Weiss paused a moment to marvel over the  _ speed _ he must have gone to get them here that fast. 

 

Then that moment passed and she started running. “Come on! We  _ have _ to tell the chief!”

 

Then all of a sudden Ruby was in her way. “Wait no! We can’t! They’ll  _ kill _ Zwei! Please?”

 

“Ruby, we just found the  _ dragon’s nest _ ! The thing we’ve been after since we got to this island! And you just want to  _ keep it a secret _ ? To protect your  _ pet dragon? _ Are you  _ serious? _ ”

 

Ruby straightened up and looked Weiss directly in the eyes, looking more determined than ever, and in that moment, she looked every inch like the leader she was meant to become. 

 

“Yes.”

 

Weiss tried to speak, only to find that she had stopped breathing at that proclamation. She sucked in a shaky breath, mentally pleading to the gods for strength, and tried again.

 

“Okay.” Her voice was almost a whisper and  _ those were  _ not  _ the words she had meant to say, for Frigga’s sake!  _ But she looked at the relief flooding Ruby’s eyes and she couldn’t quite regret it. So, before she could regret it she punched Ruby in the arm. 

 

“ _ That’s  _ for worrying me!”

 

And then she reached up to Ruby’s cloak and tugged her close, pressing their lips together. 

 

“And  _ that’s  _ for- for everything else.” 

 

With that, Weiss walked off, back to the village with her head held high and red like roses colouring her cheeks. 

 

If she’d looked back she would have seen Ruby in a daze, reaching up to touch her lips as if wondering whether that truly happened, eyes never leaving the place where Weiss had stood moments before. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Currently in Paris so I don’t really know when I’ll update, but to be fair, I never really do. 
> 
> For the record, I never ipdate more than once a week because I don’t think I could keep up with that. My updates are sporadic and asking me when I’ll update next isn’t gonna help because I don’t KNOW when I’ll update next.


	10. The one where things go to shit and Cardin needs to shut his--

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit goes down

_ She could do this. She could do this. It’s  _ just _ a dragon. She trained one before. She could do it again.  _ Ruby took in a deep breath and looked at the arena she was about to step into, axe in hand, cloak on, and swallowed hard. Today was the day she was supposed to kill a dragon. 

 

Today was the day she would convince everyone they didn’t need to. 

 

Oh, god, what was she  _ thinking!  _ She couldn’t do this! She should have just packed up and left as planned! She had  _ no clue _ why she stayed. 

 

_ Except, that’s not true, now, is it?  _ A nagging voice told her in the back of her mind, flashing an image of a girl with snow white hair and ice blue eyes, pale lips forming a surprisingly soft smile for her usually strict manner. The thought of that kiss sent her soul into bliss and made her turn as red as her namesake. 

 

“Ruby, it’s okay.”  _ Oh hey, it was the lips she was just thinking about. _

Ruby almost leaned forward to see whether they were really as soft as she remembered.  _ Ugh, not the time _ . She mentally shook herself and focused on Weiss’s encouraging words again. “You can do this. I know you can. I’ve always known that.”

 

“Really?” Ruby asked softly. 

 

Weiss smiled, a rare mix of amused and vaguely fond. “Of course. Why do you think I was so hard on you?”

 

Ruby blushed in embarrassment. “Well, not  _ that _ ,” she muttered. 

 

And that was when the gate opened. She was supposed to go in now. And kill a dragon. Except she would tame it instead. Oh Gods be with her. With one last look at Weiss’s supporting look, Ruby steeled herself and walked into the arena, a roar of applause and cheers filling her ears as she approached, almost drowning out the sound of the gate clashing shut behind her. 

 

Almost. But not quite. 

 

Ruby shot a look back at Weiss before focusing on her purpose. This was it. This was the moment of truth. The moment where she’d show everyone dragons were not dangerous. Or die trying, she supposed. 

 

Ruby walked up to the weapons rack and grabbed the axe her mother had given her, sparing a fleeting thought of what she would have thought of Ruby’s current path, whether she would have been supportive or disappointed (Ruby desperately hoped the former), before the doors separating her and the dragon opened and out came the yellow Monstrous Nightmare. It’s wings ending in a slightly purplish tint with orange scales flecked over its body, burning red eyes almost instantly zeroing in on her. 

 

“You can do this Ruby!” Yang’s yell cut through the crowd. Ruby looked around, tracking it to flaming yellow hair just beside their father with his nervous-yet-encouraging smile on his face. Ruby almost felt bad about what she was about to do. 

 

Without breaking eye contact, holding on to the love in their eyes in case it might be the last time she’d ever see it, she dropped her axe. A gasp trailed through the audience. Shock. What the hell did she think she was doing. Ruby payed it no heed.

 

Refocusing on the dragon in front of her she noticed it too seemed curious about what the hell she was doing. She held out her hands to its snout and spoke to it gently. “I’m not gonna hurt you. I won’t. I promise.” 

 

As she spoke she took off her helmet, leaving it behind with her axe as she slowly walked forward. As she did this, someone in the crowd finally seemed to get over their shock. “What the  _ shit _ ? I came here to watch a fight and now she’s gonna  _ bewitch _ the damn creature?!”  

 

“ _ Shut up, Cardin! _ ” Hissed Yang agitatedly. “That’s my little  _ sister _ out there! If that dragon eats her because you broke whatever it is she’s doing I swear to  _ Thor _ I’m gonna feed you to it!”

 

“I’m taming it,  _ that’s _ what I’m doing.” Though Ruby spoke softly, her words still carried through the arena, with no one making a sound. 

 

Except Cardin. 

 

“ _ Tame _ it? It’s a  _ dragon _ . You’re supposed to  _ kill  _ it.” 

 

“We don’t  _ need _ to kill them. I’ll show you.” 

 

“Ruby,” Taiyang finally spoke up, but the fear in his eyes gave Ruby pause. Why did he seem so horrified? “Step  _ away _ from the dragon. Grab your axe.” 

 

Then it hit her. He was trying to  _ reason _ with her. He thought she was being reckless. 

 

“No, you need to see this.”

 

“Agh,  _ this _ is why women shouldn’t be warriors. Fight already!” Cardin’s outburst was the only warning she got before suddenly a loud clang reverberated through the arena, disorienting both her and the dragon, who had previously been sniffing passively at her outstretched hand. The dragon shook its head confusedly before snapping its jaw at her hand, which she managed to yank away just in time. 

 

“Ruby!” Several voices reached her ears, but she couldn’t make out who shouted it, too busy running for her life. She managed to grab a shield from the rack only for it to be torn from her grip a moment later, a yelp escaping from her lips as claws swiped her feet out from under her. Then the dragon stopped attacking. Ruby looked over to see Yang had opened the gate with Weiss’s help and had thrown an axe at the dragon, capturing its attention. Fire was everywhere as the dragon raged around in pain, shock and confusion, while everyone was scurrying around trying to avoid getting hit and trying desperately to secure it without getting themselves or anyone else injured. 

 

As the dragon thrashed around everyone got thrown every which way, until all of a sudden she was stuck under its claws with the dragon staring right at her. That was when she heard a familiar sound. A sharp whistle cutting through the sky. And then a bright light as Zwei shot a plasma blast through the bars of the arena. Zwei snarled at the other dragon, teeth out and looking more ferocious than Ruby had ever seen him. The Monstrous Nightmare seemed intimidated enough because it flew off, but Ruby payed that no mind. No sooner than it had cleared the gate she jumped up and started pushing at Zwei’s snout. 

 

“Come on, Zwei, you’ve got to go! Get out of here! They’ll kill you!”

 

But Zwei didn’t seem to get the memo and as the vikings attacked him, he attacked back, kicking them away and eventually tackling her dad, charging up a plasma blast. 

 

Ruby felt the pit of fear in her stomach deepen and shouted as loud as she could “NO!” 

 

Luckily Zwei understood _ that _ and swallowed the gases in his mouth, looking up at her uncertainly, right before the vikings yanked his feet out from under him and pressed his mouth down to the ground to block him from using his plasma blasts. They tied him up and dragged him away, and Ruby could do nothing but watch, tears filling her eyes. 

 

_ How had everything gone so wrong?  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the movie, Stoick (who is played by Tai) interrupted the dragon taming thing, but I couldn't really do that here because I felt like it was ooc for Tai, so have a petty Cardin who doesn't know when to shut his mouth. The idea that women aren't supposed to be warriors isn't periodically accurate, but I felt like it was Cardin accurate so yea. Don't worry though, it's an unpopular opinion. Pyrrha is too good at politely kicking ass for anyone to believe otherwise. 
> 
> In the next chapter we get more supportive Weiss (who I feel is kinda being proud mom rn about Ruby standing up for her beliefs) as well as Tai scolding Ruby and we'll see more of the other squad members.


	11. The one where Weiss is a treasure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Xiao-long family is upset. Luckily, Weiss.

“Dad, I can explain.”

 

“What were you  _ thinking _ , Ruby!” 

 

Ruby was glad she wasn’t getting chewed out in public, instead they had returned home with Yang awkwardly standing to the side, not sure who to agree with. Taiyang seemed unusually agitated and worried and Ruby wasn’t sure what to expect now. He was upset, that was obvious, but  _ how _ upset. This wasn’t anything like the pranks Yang pulled from time to time. This was uncharted territory. 

 

“It wasn’t supposed to go like this. I just- argh, it’s gotten such a mess,” she agitatedly fiddled with her pin, thoughts straying to Zwei and whether or not he was even still alive.  _ They wouldn’t kill him without her dad’s orders, right?  _

“They don’t raid our island for themselves, dad! There’s this queen- in their nest- and-”   
  


“You’ve found their nest?!”   
  


“Well, Zwei found it, not me, but dad you can’t go there, the queen, she’s not like any dragon we’ve seen, she’s-”

 

“Ruby, this is what we’ve been after for  _ years! _ They’ve killed  _ hundreds _ of us!”

 

For some reason, it was that sentence that pissed Ruby off. “And we’ve killed  _ thousands _ of  _ them! _ ”

 

“ _ And today you would have become one of them!  _ You nearly _ died  _ today, Ruby! What would I have done then?” Taiyang’s voice broke on the last sentence, voice filling with emotion as he tried desperately to get his point across. 

 

Yang cleared her throat and spoke with a soft voice, lilac eyes pleading her sister to understand. “Ruby, wars are always like this. People kill each other because they have to, to protect the ones they love. It’s not  _ about  _ good or evil.”

 

Ruby frowned. “But if everyone just wants to protect the ones they love, why  _ fight _ ? Why can’t we just protect the ones we love _ together _ ?”

 

Tai chuckled and rubbed his face, shoulders sagging minutely. “Gods, you sound just like your mother.”

 

Yang sharply sucked in a breath and Ruby stared at him in shock, but he didn’t seem to notice, visibly pulling himself together and sighing. “I’m going to the nest, Ruby, and you and your sister are going to  _ stay _ here until I get back. Then we’ll talk further.”

 

And before Ruby could regain her senses and pull him back or warn him about the queen or even  _ physically tackle him to the ground and tie him to the house  _ he was gone. 

 

And Ruby vaguely remembered a woman with a soft smile and warm gaze leaving similarly, with the swish of her white cape, leaving behind two daughters staring after her.

 

* * *

 

Ruby stood on the hangrail, watching her father take off with several ships and almost the entire village, heading for a death trap. She must have stood there for hours, for when Weiss finally came up to talk to her the ships had long since disappeared from view. She wasn’t sure what to say, but she knew she had to get Ruby to snap out of it. It was the only chance their village had. 

 

Weiss took her time considering what to say and opened her mouth to speak. “It’s a mess,” That was  _ not  _ what she had planned to say! “You must feel horrible,” Oh Frigga, she’s just making it worse. “You’ve lost everything; your father, your tribe, your best friend,” Someone  _ please _ shut her up. 

 

Luckily Ruby interrupted her. “I should have just killed him when I had the chance. It would have been better for everyone.” As she spoke, her silver eyes never left the horizon and Weiss’ breath caught in her throat. 

 

“So why  _ didn’t _ you?” She asked softly. 

 

Ruby finally looked away, turning her entire body away from Weiss as if she were physically trying to avoid the question. “I don’t know, I couldn’t.”

 

“That’s not an answer,” Weiss insisted.    
  


“ _ Why _ is this so important to you all of a sudden?” Agitation coloured Ruby’s voice. 

 

“Because I want to remember what you say  _ right now _ ,”  _ Because you need to hear yourself say it. _

 

“Oh for the love of-” Ruby finally turned around to face her. “ _ I  _ was a coward.  _ I _ was  _ weak. I wouldn’t kill a dragon! _ ” 

 

“You said  _ “wouldn’t”  _ that time.”

 

“Oh, whatever! I wouldn’t!  _ Three hundred years _ and I’m the  _ first _ viking who  _ wouldn’t kill a dragon! _ ” Her eyes started filling with tears and Weiss felt a little bad, but they needed to have this talk. They needed to hear Ruby’s answer. Both of them did. 

 

“First to ride one, though,” She offered Ruby a small smile, glad to see a watery smile returned. “So?” She prompted.

 

“I wouldn’t kill him because,” Ruby’s gaze was now searching the floor while she restlessly tugged on the pin of her cape. “Because he looked as frightened as I was.” 

 

Ruby lifted her gaze and looked up at Weiss. “I looked at him and saw myself,” She said and Weiss knew in that moment that whatever dumbass plan Ruby came up with to save the village, she’d follow it without hesitation. 

 

“I bet he’s really frightened now. What are you gonna do about it?”

 

“Eh, probably something stupid,” Ruby shrugged.

“Good, but you’ve already done that,” Weiss gently teased. 

 

Ruby’s eyes widened and her breath caught and Weiss could practically  _ see _ the light bulb. “Then something crazy.” And with that Ruby ran off. 

 

“That’s my girl.”

 

She went to get the others. 

 

* * *

 

Yang was conflicted. A lot had happened in the last few hours. Ruby was supposed to kill a dragon, but then the dragon went berserk -  _ CARDIN _ \- and then  _ another _ dragon came to  _ help _ her and Ruby had apparently been to the dragon’s nest and now her father and the entire village were going to the dragon’s nest to kill the dragons. 

 

She never thought she’d see the day where she was the  _ least _ reckless of the family. 

 

Still, the black dragon - Night fury! Ruby trained a  _ Night fury! _ \- didn’t seem hostile towards Ruby and the Monstrous Nightmare had been calm until  _ Cardin _ made a scene, so maybe Ruby  _ did _ know what she was doing. At least a little. 

 

But that just brought  _ another _ set of problems with it, because they’d been at war with the dragons for  _ ages _ and they surely weren’t going to change  _ now _ .

 

_ “You sound just like your mother.”  _

 

That was what he’d said, wasn’t it. He probably didn’t even realize. Or he might have, who knows. He wasn’t wrong, though. It had been quite some time ago, but Summer had always been so adamant that they could one day coexist in peace with the dragons. 

 

Weiss swung the door open. “Yang! Come to the dragon arena! Ruby has a plan to save the village and end the war!” 

 

Yang smiled.  _ Just like her mother, huh.  _

 

“Well, then. Let’s go!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so they're off to fight a huge dragon and save the dragons and vikings both ~  
> Next chapter everyone gets paired up with a dragon!


	12. The one where even a dragon the size of a mountain isn’t enough to stand in Ruby’s way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I JUST SAW HTTYD 3 IN 4D!!! IT WAS AMAZING! I RECOMMEND EVERYONE TO WATCH IT AS SOON AS IT COMES OUT IN YOUR COUNTRY!
> 
> So, it's been 3 months. I was really unmotivated. This chapter was really hard to write because it's quite action-heavy and I'm much better at writing dialogue or introspection.

Ruby stood before the wooden gates keeping the dragon captive, plan half-formed in her mind. It was definitely crazy. Then again, was there anything that  _ wasn’t  _ crazy since she shot Zwei down? 

 

“If your plan is to get  _ eaten,  _ I’d  _ definitely  _ go with the Gronckle,” came Jaune’s voice from behind her. Ruby turned to see all her friends gathered and Weiss smiling a smug grin behind them.

 

“So, what’s the plan, sis?” Relief rushed through Ruby at those words. She wasn’t going to have to fight that mountain of a dragon alone. Her friends were here to support her. She smiled. “Well, how do you feel about riding your own dragons?”

 

Everyone’s jaws dropped open in shock and Weiss smiled at the sight. “After everything that just happened, did you  _ really  _ expect anything else?”

 

“Well, no, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t crazy! Let’s do it!” Well, at least Yang was excited. “What do we do?”

 

“First, I need you to put all your weapons away,” Ruby turned towards the doors separating her from the dragons again, contemplating which dragons and which vikings would work well together. “Out of range. We don’t want to scare the dragons.”

 

“The dragons? What about  _ us? _ ” Jaune muttered under his breath, but he put his sword outside the arena, along with everyone else’s weapons. 

 

“Ok, ready?” Ruby began to line up the dragons one by one, making sure to keep them calm and make no sudden movements. They seemed to remember her and didn’t make any move to attack, just focusing on her hand right in front of their snouts. 

 

Ruby paired them all up, making sure the dragons and vikings were all comfortable with their partners. Blake gave her dramillion a hesitant smile, while Weiss seemed completely at ease with her nadder, scratching its blue and white  scales confidently. Jaune cautiously put his hand on the Gronckle’s snout. His eyes started sparkling and a look of wonder came over him. Nora was excitedly rubbing her zippleback head’s face while the head let out little sparks of affection. Ren and the other zippleback head just looked at them with a look of resignation in their faces. 

 

Ruby walked over to a crate in the corner to grab some rope. “Who’s ready for some flying?”   
  
“ _ Way  _ ahead of ya!” Yang shouted, already hanging from the neck of the Monstrous Nightmare. 

 

* * *

 

Following the dragon’s directions, the ship  _ finally _ arrived at an island. Taiyang jumped out, his feet hitting the smooth rocks that made up the beach. He listened closely. Soft trills filled the air and Tai knew they’d come to the right place. Behind him, the vikings set up the catapults. Taiyang held his hand in the air, signalling them to hold their fire. 

 

The dragons had terrorized vikings for  _ decades _ . There was no one in the village who  _ hadn’t _ lost someone to them. Taiyang couldn’t risk his daughters. No. This would end today. 

 

He clenched his fist. 

 

The boulder flung into the wall, which crumbled upon impact, creating an entrance to the dark tunnel into the mountain. Taiyang motioned to whoever was behind the catapult, and they flung a lone flaming boulder through the cavern, the light from the flames revealing thousands of dragons clinging to the walls. 

 

It was now or never. Taiyang raised his axe and ran in yelling and swinging. The dragons flew out of the cave like a bunch of bats, but he hit none of them, nor did they attack any vikings. Was that it? That was not how this was supposed to go. 

 

_ This is too easy _ , Taiyang thought. He turned back to the tunnel, straining his ears for any hints of remaining dragons. Behind him, the vikings started cheering. He shushed them. “It’s not over.”

 

As if on cue, a loud roar shook the mountain and it split open, revealing a dragon almost half the size if it. And it had been a  _ big _ mountain. Shit. 

 

“RUN!” he shouted.    
  
“Get to the ships!” Someone else yelled. “No!” But Taiyang was too late. The dragon fired directly at the ships. Vikings desperately jumped off the decks into the water, narrowly avoiding the huge flame roasting them alive. They were now trapped on the island. Double shit. 

 

Taiyang  _ had _ to get his people to safety. He knew what to do. He grabbed a wooden spike and threw it at the beast, hitting it square on the nose and shouted at the top of his lungs “FIGHT ME!”

 

Tai wasn’t ashamed of this in the slightest. Yang got it from  _ somewhere _ . 

 

The dragon fixed its six beady eyes on him and reared its huge head back, presumably in preparation to turn him into a Taiyang flambé, when all of a sudden it was hit in the back of its head by what looked to be dragonfire. Taiyang paused. Dragonfire? 

 

“Hey! Look at us! We’re on a dragon! All of us! We’re on dragons!” Nora screamed from the neck of a zippleback, Ren on the other head, shakily flying it. Tai took in the rest of the teens. Jaune on a Gronckle, Blake on a Dramillion, Yang on a Monsterous Nightmare and Pyrrha and Weiss on Deadly Nadders, the latter also carrying Ruby, who had been the one to fire the shot at the huge dragon and was currently barking orders at the other teens. 

 

“Alright Weiss, break it down!”   
  


“Mace like tail and big mouth with lots of teeth, good for crushing its enemies. Stay away from both! Small eyes, larger nostrils. Relies on hearing and scent!”   
  
“Alright, Jaune, Pyrrha, Blake, hang in its blind spot! Make some noise, keep it confused. Yang, Ren, Nora, find out if it has a shot limit! Make it mad!”   
  
“Oh good! That’s my speciality!” Nora shouted as they flew off.    
  
Ruby steered the Nadder to the ships. Looking desperately for any trace of black scales amongst the burning remains and rubble. 

 

“There!” Weiss was the one who spotted him first. Ruby dove in the direction Weiss pointed and let the Nadder (they really needed to come up with names for these dragons, but they had been in a little hurry) hover a bit while she handed the ropes to Weiss and jumped off. “Go help the others!”

 

As Weiss saluted and flew away, Ruby ran to Zwei and started pulling on the strap around his mouth. “It’s okay, Zwei, I’m gonna get you out of here.” 

 

Meanwhile Jaune, Pyrrha and Blake were hovering just behind the dragon’s eyes and banged their weapons on their shields, only to realize that with its six eyes the dragon didn’t have a blind spot. The good news was the banging seemed to work anyway. The bad news was that it was also working on  _ their _ dragons. Jaune’s Gronckle took a sharp turn straight for the floor, while Pyrrha’s rammed into the dragon, flipping her off and stranding her on its neck. Seeing this, Blake had the good sense to stop banging and instead started firing the Dramillion’s multiple blasts at the dragon’s eyes. 

 

Out of rage and pain the dragon continued shooting flames, hitting the already burned ships once more. The mast of the ship Ruby was on couldn’t hold its weight up anymore and collapsed, missing her by a hair. One of the dragon’s feet crashed into the ship immediately after, crushing it and sending both Ruby and Zwei into the water. Ruby swam to Zwei and began tugging on the chains, desperately trying to remove them so Zwei could get out before she ran out of air. Her vision blurred and her muscles weakened. Suddenly she was pulled backwards by her cape and placed on a rock above the water and started coughing out water. She looked up just in time to see a figure jumping back into the water. “Dad?”

 

Taiyang dove all the way down to Zwei, who looked up as soon as he got close. They locked eyes, reaching an understanding at last. Tai grabbed Zwei’s restraints and ripped them open. Zwei didn’t hesitate to grab Tai and pull them both up on land, shaking the water from his scales and motioning for Ruby to get on his back. 

 

As Ruby began strapping herself in, Tai grabbed her hand. “Wait. I- I just want you to know I’m proud of you. And your mother would be too.” 

 

Ruby’s eyes widened, her hand staying in place even after her dad had let go. “Thanks, dad.” She said, her voice shaking. 

 

Then the moment was over and she flew up, preparing to fight a dragon the size of a small mountain. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While I /have/ seen HTTYD 3 now, I have /not/ seen any RWBY volume 6 episodes, so no spoilers please.   
> This chapter is longer than usual because I could /not/ find a right spot to cut it off. 
> 
> Quick list who rides which dragon:  
> Ren & Nora - Zippleback  
> Jaune - Gronckle  
> Pyrrha - red Deadly Nadder  
> Ruby - Nightfury  
> Weiss - blue Deadly Nadder  
> Blake - Dramillion  
> Yang - Monstrous Nightmare
> 
> I have already come up with names for all the dragons


	13. The one where team RWBY kills a dragon

Weiss watched Ruby and Zwei take to the air and turned to Ren and Nora, directing them to get Pyrrha out of her perilous position on the dragon’s head. As the Zippleback drew closer, Pyrrha ran over the spikes adorning the dragon’s head and jumped just in time to land right in between the necks of each head. 

As they passed its mouth, the dragon sucked in a large breath, nearly sucking them in, only for them to crash to the ground as another one of Blake’s blasts hit its eyes. It glared around at all the dragons fluttering around its head and roared in fury. The noise caused the dragons to back up a little in fright. Just as it opened its jaws to eat Blake and her Dramillion, Yang flew in and used her Monstrous Nightmare’s claws to scratch the dragon’s nose open. “YEAH! TAKE THAT!”

While the dragon was following Yang around the island, crashing into any seastack it came across while Yang just zigzagged through them, Ruby noticed the heavy clouds in the sky. 

“Weiss, I think I’ve got a plan!”

Yang flew around the island with the huge dragon hot on her heels. It took everything she had not to crash into anything, but she was doing well, considering this was her first time on a dragon and all. Seems Port was right about learning on the job and everything. Still, she needed to get back to Ruby and get an actual plan going, because there was no way she was gonna outfly a dragon who’s been flying her entire life. 

Just as she thought that, a plasma blast hit the enormous dragon from beside her and Ruby flew in, distracting the dragon from Yang. Ruby flew up into the clouds high above them and took a turn as soon as the clouds covered her. She started flying circles around the giant dragon that had followed her into the clouds, using them as cover to hide her. She fired a plasma blast and immediately flew through it and out of view again and repeated the process several times until the dragon had had enough and breathed fire in every direction to flush her out. 

“LOOK OUT!” Zwei swerved to avoid the flames. Ruby looked back to check and yep, as she suspected. Zwei’s prosthetic tailfin hadn’t managed to avoid the fire and was now burning. It wouldn’t be long before the tail would be completely gone and they’d lose maneuverability in the air. When that happened, they’d be sitting ducks!

Time to begin step two of her plan, it seemed. Hopefully I bought enough time, Ruby thought grimly. 

Zwei fired another shot at the big red dragon, this time staying within sight and drawing its eye. The dragon tried to bite them, but Zwei dodged expertly before plunging headfirst down towards the ground. The queen dragon followed. It reminded her a bit of how a seagull swoops down to pick at your hands when you hold a snack on a boat. 

Except bigger. And capable of breathing fire. 

Ruby pressed the pedal a few times, trying desperately to keep Zwei’s plunge as straight as possible despite the flames eating away at his fin. 

“Hang on, buddy, just a little bit longer!” They were going so fast Ruby could barely hear her voice over the wind. She cautiously looked back only to see the queen narrowing her eyes. “Hold, Zwei.”

The green gas started leaking out of the queen’s mouth, ready for her to ignite it and burn them alive. Or that was what she thought.

“NOW!” Ruby shouted and Zwei turned around mid-air and fired a plasma blast right into the gas, setting the queen on fire from within. Just as that happened, they broke through the cover of clouds and saw the ground approaching fast. The Queen opened her large spindly wings in an attempt to pull up, but the fire within was damaging her wings and causing holes to form in the skin. 

It didn’t help that Weiss and Blake were shooting spines and magnesium fire at them to create more holes. 

Meanwhile Zwei strained to turn around. As soon as the wind caught his wings again, he quickly stopped falling and narrowly avoided being swallowed by the queen as she rushed past him at great speeds. 

And with that she crashed into the ground in a huge explosion that shook the earth. 

Racing away from the fire, Zwei flew up the queen’s back, dodging spikes here and there that grew on her back and impeded their escape from the flames. That’s when Zwei’s prosthetic finally gave up and fell into the flames. Now unable to steer Zwei and Ruby looked at ahead at the obstacles in their path. Luckily they’d just cleared the spikes. UNluckily they were now speeding straight at the queen’s enormous mace-like spiked tail. 

“NO!” Ruby only had enough time to brace herself for the collision and fell out of Zwei’s saddle, unconscious, with the flames rising up to claim her. 

Zwei squawked in panic, flying desperately towards Ruby in the hopes to save her, but knew he wouldn’t reach her in time. 

A bright yellow blur zoomed past, taking Ruby with it, only to race right at Zwei and grab him around the waist, carrying them both off to safety. 

Yang looked down at Zwei from on top of her Monstrous Nightmare, her arms full of Ruby, a worried half-smile on her face. Zwei responded with the toothless smile he had given Ruby long ago. Yang turned back to the unconscious girl in her arms. “Ruby, please be okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For reference, a seastack is a piece of land that is high, steep and very very small. Imagine a stack of stones in the sea that's so high you could crash into it with your ship or dragon, depending on how high the seastack is. If you still don't get it, then maybe look up an image of it or just watch the HTTYD movie, bc the Red Death actually does crash into a bunch of seastacks in this scene
> 
> Secondly, I had a lot of difficulty with this chapter at first, because I wasn't sure whether I wanted Yang to lose her arm here. I knew Ruby wouldn't lose a leg like Hiccup did, because I wanted it to follow both RWBY canon as well as HTTYD canon and Ruby doesn't get an injury in RWBY. Eventually I figured out I had no idea how to have Yang lose her arm in this fight, so that'll come in a later part. 
> 
> There will be one more chapter as an epilogue, but after that, there will be multiple other parts, including ones to parallel the RTTE and HTTYD 2 and 3 stories and some oneshots for Riders/Defenders of Berk and the specials, but it might take a while.


	14. The one where the beginning ends and the end begins

Ruby opened her eyes slowly, slowly getting used to waking up, only to notice a huge black snout sniffing at her face. She smiled as the snout began licking her.

 

“Hey, buddy,” She said, as the licking became more intense. Zwei had clearly missed her. Oh wait. She sat up in alarm and looked around. “Lady Freya! Did we just take on the queen? And won? Is everyone okay?” These seemed to be the most urgent questions at the moment, but Zwei was evidently too excited about her waking up to answer them. She could tell because he was currently jumping around her house and into the rafters, which he was just way too big for. Clearly she was going to have to get up. 

 

“Zwei. Zwei! Calm down! Dad’s not gonna be happy if you break someth-”

 

“Ruby!” 

Ruby had barely gotten out of bed, before she fell back into it, her arms now filled with a mess of blonde curls and strong arms squeezing the life out of her. “Yang I’m gonna explode!”

 

Yang let her go but didn’t leave the bed. “I’m just so relieved! You’ve been unconscious for  _ hours _ ! I was so worried when I saw you take that hit. Do you know how close you came to getting roasted?” 

 

“Is everyone else okay?”

 

Yang smiled. “Why don’t you come see for yourself?” 

 

Ruby walked over to the door and stepped out of the house. She gasped. There were dragons  _ everywhere.  _ All of them living in harmony with the vikings. Jaune and Pyrrha were grooming the gronckle and nadder they had ridden in the battle. 

 

“Me killing the dragon queen ended the war?”

 

“We’re calling her the Red Death!” Nora said while hanging upside down from one of the necks of the zippleback so that her face was right next to Ruby’s. She hadn’t even noticed them there. 

 

Wait,  _ Red Death? _ She looked at Yang, who shrugged at her. “It was Nora’s idea and it just stuck. 

 

“Hey everyone! Ruby’s awake!” Someone shouted and everyone came rushing over, saying how glad they were she was back on her feet. Her uncle shoved a new tail fin for Zwei into her arms with her own crest painted on it. Fireproof, this time, he said. Her father smiled at her in support and everything was finally perfect. 

 

Weiss punched her. “OW! What was  _ that _ for?”

 

“ _ That _ was for scaring me!” And then she grabbed Ruby’s cloak and pulled her in for a kiss. The kiss wasn’t very long or passionate. It was rather chaste, really. And yet Ruby felt so out of breath, like she’d just ran circles around the island trying to catch every single sheep and keep them from wandering off with the sheer force of will. 

 

“And  _ that _ was for everything else.”

 

Okay,  _ now _ everything was perfect. 

 

“Looks like you match your fin, Rubes,” Yang’s face remarkably resembled a dragon who’d just nabbed your freshly caught fish. Ruby sighed. 

 

* * *

 

On the shores of an unknown island, a woman stands staring at the horizon, her silver eyes filled with water to reflect the sea before her and a sad smile on her face. She’s not old. Maybe 40. But she looks close to death anyway. Of illness rather than age. 

 

She shifts her gaze down at the orb in her hands, reflecting a girl who looks strikingly similar to her and another whose face is framed by the flames. The blonde seems to be teasing the smaller one, but they are both laughing. The woman’s face softens. 

 

She does not say anything, for there is nothing she can say to warn them of the pain the future will bring them or to soften it’s blow. She cannot help them. She can’t protect them. She can’t save them. Neither now, nor in the past. There is nothing she can say to ease their destiny any and even if she could, they would not hear it, for she is here on this shore and they are not. 

 

She can only watch and smile because they had to miss out on her, but they still have each other. Their lives may not be easy, but the effects of it will be great. And in the meantime, they will be there for each other. To make up for her absence. 

 

She will not meet them again. 

 

So she just watches. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who that lady is is still a secret, but you can probably figure it out by now. She's mostly important for a later arc of this story, but this isn't her first appearance in this story. Not sure if you could tell, but there's another paragraph in the first chapter that's also part of her story. 
> 
> Also, yes Ruby and Weiss are together now, so there won't be that weirdness like in RTTE where they don't get together until 3+ years later despite kissing multiple times in that timespan for some reason. I mean, that's a pretty big hint imo. "Just friends", my foot, Astrid. Do you kiss all your friends like that? Because that's not what I've seen. 
> 
> And yes, the dragons will have names, but we were mostly following Ruby's pov through this chapter so she hasn't heard them yet. Everyone only came up with them after the fight, while she was unconscious. I've already come up with all of them.


End file.
